The Path of Shadows
by Jolie518
Summary: 6th year: Voldemort tries to draw Harry into a confrontation. With the help of The Order, the Trio begins to prepare for war, learning far more than just magic. Danger, romance, and a new understanding of what friendship, love, and courage really mean.
1. Tea With Remus

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I'm sure even the plot has been copyrighted by someone. So there it is, not mine.

**Chapter 1**

The sun rose over 4 Privet Drive at 5:52 am. "Only three minutes off from yesterday," Harry idly mused. Yes, he knew that the sun was three minutes later today. Just like he knew it was seven minutes later than the day before that. And he knew that Uncle Vernon's alarm would go off in eight minutes – and nine minutes after that – and nine minutes after that, until the great git finally dragged himself to the loo at 6:19 am. Not that Harry wanted to know any of this. He didn't rightly care, but six weeks of being awake at ungodly hours in the morning will have you notice things like that.

Harry hadn't left his room (other than for reasons of personal hygiene) all summer. He just didn't care. The Dursleys, for there part, didn't even seem to notice. Aunt Petunia had tried for the first couple weeks to make him do chores, but even her glass breaking screeching had not roused him. Now all three were very studiously ignoring his existence. Harry wouldn't have had it any other way. His friends were supplying him with news – and more importantly food – and attempting at entertainment. But Harry wasn't biting. He couldn't remember the last time he laughed, although not that Ron and Hermione weren't putting forth a valiant effort. No, these days Harry spent the majority of his time lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. Not that he was seeing it. He was seeing Sirius. Sirius falling through the veil. Over and over. In slow motion, backwards, upside down, aerial views, from every angle possible. He blamed himself. If only he had remembered the mirror, or remembered Snape, or had practiced his Occlumency, or had recognized a trap when he saw one, any number of things! But one thing remained certain; Sirius' death could be (and was!) traced back to him and him alone. Harry closed his eyes as the all too familiar ache washed over him. The ache, the only thing that told him he was still alive. It was a wholly consuming bodily pain. The first thing he thought of when he woke up (if he had actually managed to sleep) and the thing his mind wandered to when he wasn't paying attention. It was a pain unlike one he had ever known – and if there was one thing Harry knew, it was pain. Sure, he'd been in worse pain than this. Voldemort had done worse through his scar when he wasn't even trying. The Basilisk fang through his arm was definitely worse than this. Hell, bludgers do more damage than this. Oh, and then there was the Crutacius Curse. That certainly wasn't…pleasant. No, this pain was different, for that simple reason that he didn't know when…or if…this pain would end. There was no physical reason for this pain; there was no potion to make it better. This was entirely emotional and entirely self-inflicted. Not to mention his own fault – _Sirius!_ – how could he have forgotten the mirror? Sirius had given it to him expressly for that reason! But no he had to go and –

The slam of a door interrupted his inner monologue. He looked at the clock – 6:19. Harry closed his eyes in misery. "Why? Why do I know my uncle's bathing habits?" He blinked. "Well, at least I know he does bathe." At this point Harry knew that Aunt Petunia would be getting up soon and start with that infernal vacuum, and with that all hope of sleep would be gone. So he got himself up and decided to start on some homework. He'd tried homework before, but he couldn't concentrate. So he'd started doing a little each day, working until it became useless again. In the six weeks he'd been there, Harry had finished everything but the five foot essay Snape had set for the incoming Sixth Years. "One foot for every miserable year I've had to put up with your…failings. And you should consider yourselves lucky it's only a foot for the grief you've put me through," he had said. Harry didn't understand how Snape could have given all the Sixth Years homework considering that not all of them would be taking N.E.W.T. level potions. But when one was dealing with Severus Snape, one did not expect logic. At least it was on the Wolfsbane Potion. It was complicated, but Harry had a particular interest in this potion because of Professor Lupin. He was at two feet, four inches, and already running out of material. He pulled out his old Defense book to see if the potion was mentioned in the section on werewolves, and threw himself into his work.

Four hours later he leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose where his glasses were starting to leave marks. He'd made it to three and a half feet. Groaning, he stood up and stretched; his back protesting the movement with a series of loud pops down his spine. After stowing all his magical things under the loose floorboard (just in case Aunt Petunia came snooping) he took himself to the loo for a shower. He stood under the stream of hot water thinking about Sirius. "No, stop that," he said out loud, "think about something else. Come on Potter get a hold of yourself!" He gave himself a mental shake. He had just started running through broomstick cleaning charms when a booming on the door jolted him from his reverie.

"Hurry up in there!" Dudley screamed, "Some of us have things to do today!"

"What the hell could Dudley have to do today? Beat up another ten year old?" Harry thought. None the less, he shut off the water and got out. He opened the door just as Dudley was about to start banging again. Harry raised his eyebrows at the sight of Dudley standing in a dressing gown that barely closed around him with his arm raised, his mouth open with words on his tongue, his eyes open in surprise at the door being thrown open so suddenly. Harry could see the apprehension in Dudley's eyes at his first confrontation with his magical cousin since picking him up from King's Cross.

"Good morning, _Cousin_." Harry spit the word out like an insult. Dudley swallowed and drew himself up to his full height, which Harry was surprised was no longer much more than his.

"You – you've been in there for an hour! Mum said you had to get out!"

"Yeah? What else did mummy say?" Harry just looked bored.

"You have to get out or…or…I'll use you for target practice like I used to!" Dudley tried to look threatening. Harry was not in the mood. Harry looked him up and down and then straight in the eye. He leaned over so that their noses were almost touching.

"Dinky-duddy-dums is gonna use me for target pwactice?" He asked in a voice one usually reserved for babies. Then his whole demeanor changed, his eyes darkened and he looked downright scary. "Don't you realize what I could do to you with two words and a flick of my wrist?" he hissed. Dudley visibly shrank into himself and backed away.

"Yo-you…you ca-can't use it outside of ssssschool," he stuttered.

"Oh can't I?" Harry backed Dudley up even more, until his back hit the wall, "there are loopholes around every rule, Dudders, and I know all of them. Don't. Tempt. Me." He said in the most threatening voice he could manage, and left Dudley quaking in the hallway as he returned to his room.

Mildly amused at his very decided victory over Dudley in the intimidation wars, Harry quickly dressed and grabbed one of Mrs. Weasley's mince pies out of the closet for breakfast. He spent a good deal of time staring at the ceiling, it seemed to be his new favorite hobby, and got up only when he heard Hedwig fly in from hunting, bringing with her a few letters. He had just finished untying them when three more owls flew in the window, competing for who would get to Harry first. Harry quickly sorted out the owls before they went Hitchcock on him and waved them over to Hedwig's cage from some water, giving Hedwig an apologetic look as she stared him down for making her accommodate the trespassers.

Turning to his mail, which had piled up on his bed, he searched immediately for the Ministry seal hoping his O.W.L. results had finally come in, but didn't find it. There was his Daily Prophet subscription, which he had taken out at Hermione's advice, the replies from Hagrid and Lupin that Hedwig had brought back, and a letter each from Ron and Hermione as well as a third one he didn't recognize. He assumed it was from Ginny as it had come attached with Ron's. He opened the Daily Prophet and skimmed the headlines. Nothing very interesting, the paper landed over in the corner with the other six weeks worth of useless reporting. He really didn't know why he bothered with the Daily Prophet, all his news came from his friends anyway. Hermione had explained that the Ministry decided to only report the really big new items to the general public in order to avoid a panic. Harry thought that was stupid, but he didn't have much of a say in the matter. At least the paper had stopped insulting him. He looked to the letters and decided to start with Hagrid.

_Harry_

_Doin just fine, I've had me a bit of a break the past couple weeks but Dumbledore said he's got another thing for me to do soon. A you know what for the you know who. If you know what I mean. Anyway, hope the muggles are treatin you good. If they ain't you just tell me and I'll make sure that moron you call an uncle gets what's comin to him. See you on 1 September._

_Hagrid _

Harry shook his head at Hagrid's poor attempts at secrecy, he knew he meant well. He put Hagrid's letter in his shoebox full of the summer's correspondence and reached for Lupin's.

_Harry, _

_I'm glad to hear that your relatives are, well, not treating you horribly…if you're happy with them ignoring you then who am I to say anything? All of us here at 12 are worried about you. I'd like to see you face to face, what do you say to tea at Mrs. Figg's house this afternoon? Around 2 pm? _

_Remus_

Harry turned the letter over and wrote a quick reply saying he would be at Mrs. Figg's at 2 and sent Hedwig off with the reply. He stared after her for a minute and then reached for Hermione's letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm glad to hear your Aunt and Uncle are being not quite so horrible this summer. I suppose Mad-Eye's warning did the trick. I miss you and Ron desperately. Mum and Dad won't leave me alone this summer; they do nothing but ask questions. I've only just finished the extra homework I asked Professor McGonagall for! I've had no time. Mum keeps planning these "Mother/Daughter" days, all we do is go shopping and go to spas and other extreme wastes of money. But mum really enjoys them, so I don't mind going along. I think she's a little upset that she's missed me growing up. It's just hit her that I'm going to be 17 soon. I do miss spending time with her. I just wish we could sit and talk over tea rather than have our nails done. Oh well, I suppose she thinks this is what I want to do. But she keeps asking questions about you and Ron and insinuating crazy things. She thinks I fancy Ron! What utter nonsense! _

_Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my mother. I haven't heard anything much since last I wrote. As far as I know Voldemort is still laying low. Professor Lupin told me Dumbledore thinks that he's trying to downplay his return now that Fudge has been forced to acknowledge that he's back. You know, lull the Wizarding world into a false sense of security. I don't know much more about what's going on since I'm not at 12 this summer. We're both a bit out of the loop as we're stuck in the muggle world. Perhaps Ron will know? I'll write and ask him._

_Oh! I've just had a letter from Professor Dumbledore. I wrote and asked him when we might expect our O.W.L. results; don't you think we should have gotten them by now? He said that there has been a bit of a problem with marking the DADA sections, but they'll be going out soon. I wonder what the problem is. I bet that Umbridge woman did something to the tests. Oh just thinking about her makes me mad. But Dumbledore said I could go to 12 next week if I wanted. I'm definitely going to go. I just hope mum doesn't have a fit when I tell her I'm going to leave. See you soon, Harry!_

_With love from, _

_Hermione_

It hadn't occurred to Harry that Hermione wouldn't know much more than he did about the state of the Wizarding world, since she was also at home with her family in the muggle world. He just assumed she would have the answer to everything like she always did. She did, however, have the answer to the O.W.L. question Harry hadn't even asked yet. This didn't surprise him at all. He also wasn't the least surprised she had asked McGonagall for extra homework though, that was a very Hermione thing to do. He bet Ron hadn't even started his homework yet, let alone finished _extra_ assignments. How his two friends could be more different, he couldn't even fathom. He went to grab Ron's letter, but grabbed the mystery one instead. He opened it and quickly looked to the bottom to see who it was from. He was right, it was Ginny.

_Dear Harry,_

_I saw Ron writing to you, so I thought I would too. How has your summer been? Are you alright? I know things must be rough for you, going through all that and then having to go straight to the one place where the people who care about you can't be with you. I hope you know that we all care for you and we are all there for you. _

_Ron has been driving mum mental asking when you can come here (we're all at 12 by the way; Dumbledore thinks it's safer than the burrow for us at the moment). I know he misses you and he's worried about you. I have to admit that I'm worried about you too. You just looked so sad when we left school. I just want you to know that I'm always here for you if you ever need to talk. I know I'm not Ron or Hermione, but sometimes you need to talk to an outsider rather than someone close. I know how it feels. So, I guess that's it. See you soon, Harry. _

_Love, _

_Ginny_

_P.S. – Stop blaming yourself! (I know you are) It's not your fault, none of it is. _

Harry found himself sniffling at the end of Ginny's letter. It was not lost on him that she was the only person all summer who had even acknowledged Sirius. He knew it was an unspoken agreement between everyone not to mention what happened at the Ministry to him, and he appreciated the effort but he didn't like everyone treating him like he was made of glass, he wasn't going to break. He looked at Ginny's P.S.. How could he not blame himself? It was his fault. Sirius died, Ron got attacked by brains, Hermione was seriously injured and could have been killed, Ginny herself had been hurt! How could she say it wasn't his fault? No, it was most definitely his fault and he felt even worse now that Ginny was being so nice to him. He didn't deserve it. He felt the ache come over him again. Then the tears came. He didn't fight them, he just let them come. Then something else hit him. _Ron got attacked by brains, Hermione was seriously injured and could have been killed. _ What if those brains did something horrible to Ron? What if Hermione had been killed? He could never live with himself. He would have been devastated. He would never survive without Ron and Hermione. "Oh God," he thought, "what have I done? How could I put them in such danger?" The tears came harder. The full weight of his actions finally hit him. "I'm lucky it was _only_ Sirius. It could have been so much worse," he mentally berated himself. He vowed he would never do something so stupid again. He would not put Ron and Hermione (nor anyone else for that matter) into danger again. They _were not_ going to be punished simply for being his friend. Although it may seem like a good idea, there was no way he was going to shut them out of his life. He'd been down that road, it didn't work and he knew it. But he'd be damned if he was going to let anything happen to them because of his stupidity again!

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Hedwig fly back to her cage and when she hooted her hello it startled him right off the bed. He yelped as he hit the floor, more out of surprise than pain, and rubbed his tailbone absentmindedly. Then he realized that he was still holding Ginny's letter. Well, what was left of her letter. It was now crumpled and so tear stained he could barely read it. He put it in his pocket, as a silent reminder of the vow he'd just made. Getting up, he took a quick glance at the clock and saw that it was 1:30. "Wow, how long was I crying?" he thought as he put on his shoes. He rinsed his face with cold water to get rid of the leftover redness and set off to see Professor Lupin.

Before he even got all the way down the stairs Uncle Vernon shook the house in one of his all too familiar bellows. "BOY! What do you want?"

"I'm going out," Harry replied.

"Going out where? You don't leave your room all summer, not even to help your aunt with the household chores and now you suddenly decide to leave? I know you're up to something, what is it? Don't you dare use any of that unnaturalness here. I knew we shouldn't have taken you back in after what you did to Dudley last year –"

"What I did to Dudley? You mean saved his life, right? Because that's what I did, and sometimes I really have to wonder why I even bothered," Harry spat back at him. "I'm going out to see a friend and you'll stay out of my way or I'll have him and the rest of the crowd come back and show you what "unnaturalness" really is." Harry slammed the door and left three wide eyed (and one very purple) Dursleys staring after him.

* * *

When he arrived at Mrs. Figg's, Harry found Professor Lupin waiting in the kitchen with a pot of tea. He looked even worse than the first time Harry met him on the train in third year. He was skinny and drawn, as if he hadn't slept in weeks and his robes were even more tattered than usual. Sirius' death was obviously hitting him very hard. Harry felt terrible.

"Good afternoon, Harry."

"Afternoon, Professor."

"Please Harry, call me Remus. I'm not your professor anymore." Harry shrugged.

"What did you want to see me about, er, Remus?" That just sounded so weird to him.

"I wanted to see how you were doing myself, I know how easy it is to lie in a letter. I've done it many times this summer myself." Remus offered him a small smile, which Harry didn't return. When Harry said nothing in reply to his implication that Harry had been lying in his letters, Remus tried again, "Have a seat, Harry. Would you like some tea?"

Harry took a cup and asked where Mrs. Figg was.

"She went out to do some shopping, said we could take as long as we liked here," Remus replied. "How are you doing, Harry? Really?"

"I'm fine." Harry looked up and met his former professor's eyes. He saw nothing but compassion, caring, and sincerity. He sighed, unable to lie to the face of his father's last true friend. "I'm miserable, Professor. I can't stop thinking about it. I know no one blames me, but I feel like it's my fault."

"Well, it is your fault."

Harry stopped mid-thought. "What?"

"I said 'it is your fault.'"

Harry was dumbfounded. He blamed himself, but he never actually considered that anyone else really would. He felt vaguely bothered by this.

"Well, I was only doing what I thought was right! I only tried to help him!" Harry immediately jumped to the defensive.

"That's all well and good, Harry, but the fact still remains that Sirius is dead and if it weren't for you, he wouldn't be." Remus responded in the same monotone he'd had before, as if he was simply explaining an assignment in class.

"But…but I didn't…how can you…I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."

"Sorry isn't going to bring him back, Harry."

"How was I supposed to know! I did everything I could! Voldemort tricked me!"

"Voldemort was able to trick you because you failed in your Occlumency"

"Professor!" Harry was plain shocked. He would have expected to see Voldemort wearing a tutu and garters, singing "I Feel Pretty" in a duet with Snape before Remus blaming him for Sirius' death.

"It's not my fault, I thought Sirius was in danger, I did what any true friend would have. How can you blame me for what happened!" Harry screamed at him, "It's not my fault, I tried! Sirius wasn't supposed to leave Headquarters! I thought he was in danger! I thought he was gonna be killed! I loved him, Professor! How could I sit there and let something happen to the closest thing to family I have! How can you blame me for that!"

Remus smiled, "I don't, Harry."

Harry's mouth dropped. Then he quickly closed it. "You – don't?"

"No, Harry, I don't."

"Then why…" Harry was truly confused now.

"Because you needed someone else to blame you in order for you to see that it really wasn't your fault." Harry sat gaping at him like a fish. "I can see you're not quite following me." Harry nodded. "Let me explain then," Remus continued, "you see Harry, when I attacked you with the blame, you defended yourself to me…and rightfully so. All the reasons you gave me were exactly right in why Sirius' death is not your fault. However, in order for you to see those reasons and even bring them to the forefront of your brain, you needed to defend yourself. I simply gave you that opportunity."

"So you played devil's advocate?" Harry asked, still bewildered.

"Essentially, yes. But now do you believe that you are not to blame?"

"No, but I feel better. Thank you, Professor."

"You're welcome, Harry, and please call me Remus." They sat quietly sipping their tea for a few minutes. Harry still wasn't real clear what just happened, but he appreciated the effort nonetheless, and he did feel better.

"So how are you doing then?" He wondered out loud.

"Me? Oh, I'm fine." Harry gave him a 'do you really think I believe that?' look. "Ok, I suppose if I want you to tell me the truth then I should return the favor shouldn't I?" Remus asked, "Well, I'm miserable too Harry. We both lost someone very important to us, and it is exceedingly difficult. I feel like a part of me has died. Much like I felt when your parents died." Remus looked as if he was holding back tears.

"Are you alright, Remus?" Harry asked.

"Yes, yes, I'm alright," He got a funny look on his face, as if he were there but somewhere else at the same time. Lost in his memories, "It just hits me sometimes, all over again. I lost all four of them 15 years ago – Sirius, your parents, Peter – and now, I've lost Sirius again. It hurts worse the second time. Now that I know the truth, it hurts so much worse." Silent tears had started to fall down the man's cheeks. He made no effort to wipe them away. Harry couldn't stand to look at him. He looked like someone who had lost everything, like he had nothing left to live for. Harry looked down at his tea cup, feeling rather awkward at this emotional display from his former teacher. Harry wasn't sure if Remus was even aware he had said any of that out loud. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Harry quite close to tears himself. He was about to change the subject when Remus began talking again.

"I'm the only one left," He said quietly. "James, Sirius, they're dead. Peter, he's worse than dead." He was looking at something just to the right of Harry's chair, and once again, Harry didn't know if he knew he was speaking out loud.

"I'm the only one left," he repeated, almost in awe. "Voldemort took them all from me. Everyone I've ever cared about. My family, my true family," he looked up at Harry, eyes shining with unshed tears. Harry stared back with his own tear-filled eyes. "You are all I have left, Harry. You, and the Order." Harry didn't know what to say, he felt his throat working as he lost his battle with the tears in his eyes. But he could not look away. All he could think about was Remus losing another person. "Either must die at the hands of the other…" What if he died? Would Remus be this distraught?

"Remus, I…" he started, but he was cut off.

Remus put up his hand to silence him. He looked Harry straight in the eye, his own eyes burning with an intensity Harry had never seen before. With a cold, dead, voice so calm it was scary he said, "Harry, you're going to kill him." Harry just kept staring. He didn't know what to say. Remus was seriously frightening him.

"There is no try in this, Harry. You are _going_ to kill him, you _have _to." Remus was almost desperate, "You _have_ to, Harry, you _have _to."

"But I'm so scared, Remus, I'm so scared." Harry worked out through his tears. Feeling for all the world the near 16 years old he was.

"I know you're scared, Harry, It's only natural to be scared, but you will succeed." Remus' voice was warm and caring again, this calmed Harry significantly.

Remus grabbed Harry's hand and entwined their fingers. "This a promise I am making to you, Harry; a magical oath, sworn on the honor of one wizard to another." He took out his wand and swirled circles in the air around their joined hands. Suddenly their hands started to glow a warm golden light. Remus put away his wand and placed his other hand on top of their joint ones. "Harry, look me in the eye now, and don't look away until I let go of your hands." Harry looked up from their hands into Remus' burning eyes. He felt a connection between them, as if some one was holding his head in place and forcing his eyes open. He couldn't have looked away if he tried. Remus stared back into his eyes and said "I, Remus John Lupin, on my honor as a wizard, make to you Harry James Potter, this oath." Harry's hand began to tingle with warmth and he could see in his peripheral vision their hands glowing brighter. Remus's eyes suddenly went the same golden color as their hands as he made his vow.

"I swear that I will do everything in my power to help you defeat Voldemort. I will help you prepare, teach you what you need to know, give you the weapons you will need. I will help you _become the wizard you need to be_. I will help you beat him, Harry, or I will die trying."

* * *

After leaving Mrs. Figg's, and his disturbingly serious conversation with Remus, Harry took a walk around Little Whinging. He wasn't ready to go back to the Dursley's yet; he needed some time to himself, away from the ever present sound of television or video games from Dudley's room on the other side of the wall or Aunt Petunia's shrieking. He felt like he'd been trampled by rampaging hippogriffs – multiple times - and he wanted to sort out his thoughts.

That oath Remus made to him was, intense, to say the least. Harry was overwhelmed by it. But he did feel closer to Remus than ever before, he felt a bond between them. Whether it was him clinging to last of the Marauders, or if it had something to do with the oath he didn't know; but Harry now knew how much Remus cared about him, not just as James' son, but as a person, as an equal, as a friend. He was touched that a man he admired so much would devote a good portion of his life to helping him. He felt that with Remus' help, and the other help he'd certainly get from Dumbledore and the rest of the Order, he might actually have a fighting chance against Voldemort.

On the other hand, he felt as if a huge weight had been put on his shoulders. Not that he didn't already know that he was the only one who could defeat Voldemort, but it felt so much more real now that someone else had said it. He was scared, so very scared. And he was mad. Why didn't he get a choice in all of this? He didn't ask for it, and he didn't want it. He wanted to ask for help – he needed to ask for help. And he knew the help would come, more help than he wanted would probably come, but he knew deep down that no matter how much help anyone gave him or tried to give him – in the end, it would be him and only him. He and Voldemort, face to face and all alone. That thought alone scared him silly, but it also gave him confidence. Without his Deatheaters, Voldemort was only one wizard - just like Harry. He was powerful, very powerful, but Voldemort had marked Harry as his equal, so equal Harry would be.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he was surprised to find himself on the doorstep of number 4. He let himself in and walked past the front room without giving his relatives so much as a glance. He got up to his room and fell onto his bed, not realized just how tired he was until he lay down. He couldn't remember being this tired. "Figures though," he thought, "I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep all summer and after that emotional workout Remus put me through I bet I could sleep for a week." It was all he could do to kick off his shoes, take off his glasses and crawl to the pillow.

* * *

BANG!

Harry woke with a start, immediately reaching for his wand which was under his pillow. He grabbed his glasses and looked around his room, dim in the early morning sunlight, on guard for anything and everything. He looked at his clock. 6:19. Then he heard the water running in the bathroom. He flopped back down to the pillow. "Bloody Uncle Vernon had to go and slam the bloody bathroom door and wake me from the first good night's sleep I've had…and it HAD to be at 6 bloody 19!" Harry kicked his mattress in frustration. He didn't even know what time he had gone to sleep the night before, but he knew he was still tired and rolled over to go back to sleep.

BANG!

Harry woke with a start, immediately reaching for his wand which was under his pillow. He grabbed his glasses and looked around his room, dim in the early evening sunlight, on guard for anything and everything. He looked at his clock. 6:19. "What!" he thought, "What the hell is going on? I KNOW I was asleep."

BANG! BANG!

Harry looked wildly around for the source of the noise, still extremely confused. He'd concluded it wasn't the door, so he got up and went to the window. Dudley and his friends were shooting bottle rockets into the air, having them explode right by Harry's bedroom window. Looking out he realized that it was 6:19 (well, now 6:22) in the evening. "Wow, I slept another 12 hours?" he thought.

BANG!

He opened his window and leaned out. "Wanna cut that out?"

"Not really, Potty," Dudley said.

"POTTY! Oh, that's good Big D," a member of Dudley's gang had fallen into a fit of laughter. Harry rolled his eyes _"What? Have these guys been hanging out with Malfoy?"_

"Dudders, I'm disappointed in you. It took you 16 years to figure out how to shorten my name from Potter to Potty? You are a lot slower than you look aren't you?" Dudley's friends stopped laughing.

"Come down here and say that, Potty! You're all brave up in your window! Bet you're not so tough when you got Big D poundin' on you like back in school," the laughing member of the gang yelled up to him.

"I'm not so sure you want me to do that guys. What do you think, _Big D_? Think I should come down there and show them how we fight at 'St. Brutus''? You know, with our _little sticks_?"

Dudley's face paled. "Come on guys, mum doesn't want him outside. He's too easy to beat up anyway." Dudley started walking away, ignoring the grumbles and protests of his friends who wanted to go Harry Hunting.

Harry closed the window with a satisfied look on his face, "Stupid oafs, they think they can still scare me? Losers." He turned to go back to bed and saw Ron's letter sitting on the floor where it fell the day before. He picked it up and tore the seal.

_Harry,_

_Mate, LOADS to tell you! But I'm not writing it down because this would be 7 feet long. Hermione's coming here next week. Can't wait to see what she looks like after her mum went and got her girly. Should be able to get a few laughs out of it._

_Anyway, the major point for my letter is to tell you to pack your bags, mate! We're coming to get you tomorrow night at 8 (gotta wait til its dark or something). It's gonna be no homework, quidditch, and good times galore from now until Hermione gets here! See you tomorrow!_

_Ron_

and for the first time that summer, Harry Potter smiled.


	2. Home

"_Pack your bags – we're coming to get you_," those were the most beautiful eight words Harry had read in a long time. He looked at the clock, 6:32. He had an hour and a half, it was plenty of time to pack – seeing as how he'd never really unpacked. But he didn't want to stay in that house a second longer than he had to. He rushed around his room throwing things haphazardly into his trunk. All his school books, then his clothes ("Where did I get so many? God knows the dirty ones never got washed."), the rest of the food, then his trinkets that had been lying around, and finally his box of letters. Harry took a look at his overflowing trunk and realized that there was no chance it was going to close. He ended up taking out the food, he wouldn't need it anyway, and let Aunt Petunia find it – if she's not happy that Harry had been eating food better than anything she'd ever produced it wasn't his problem.

At 7:45 he was completely packed and had rechecked his room three times to make sure he hadn't left anything. He laid on his bed for a few minutes thinking he'd grown quite attached to the cracks in the ceiling. At 7:52 he couldn't take it anymore and went downstairs to wait. Dragging his trunk behind him, he slowly made his way down the hall. The noise of the trunk against the hardwood floor drew Dudley out of his room.

"Where the hell are you going?"

"I'm leaving in five minutes," Harry replied.

"What? You just decided to leave?"

Harry stopped pulling his really heavy trunk and looked at Dudley like the moron he was. "I got a letter; my friends are coming for me at eight. Are you complaining that I won't be here?" Dudley said nothing, just continued to look stupid, "That's what I thought. Shut up and leave me alone," and Harry resumed lugging his trunk to the stairs. Just as he was about to start down Dudley came up behind him and shoved him into the wall as he pushed by to get down the stairs. Harry grit his teeth, "Only a few more minutes," he thought to himself. He started thumping the trunk down the stairs.

"Stop that infernal racket, boy! We're trying to watch our program!" Uncle Vernon bellowed. Harry ignored him and continued to thump to the bottom. He went back up for Hedwig, and as he got back to the bottom of the stairs he saw the gigantic figure of Uncle Vernon looming in front of him.

"Dudley tells us you're leaving. That your…_friends _are coming to get you." Harry was unimpressed.

"Yeah, so?"

"I WON'T HAVE THOSE FREAKS IN MY HOUSE!"

"Well that's too bad," a gentle voice intervened, "those freaks _are_ in your house." Aunt Petunia shrieked, and Uncle Vernon paled. Harry looked towards the voice and saw that Remus had apparated in unnoticed. He smiled at Harry and went to open the door. Uncle Vernon watched, turning more purple by the second, and Dudley had instinctively covered his rear and slid behind Aunt Petunia who was standing as rigid as stone with her eyes closed as if she couldn't see them then they weren't actually there.

Remus opened the door and Harry was bombarded by people yelling his name and rushing at him. Tonks bowled him onto the stairs in a hug ("Sorry, Harry") and Mrs. Weasley wasn't far behind. She pulled him up and put him into one of her bone crushing but always appreciated hugs.

"Oh, let me look at you," she said, "you're much too skinny Harry, dear. Have you been eating all the food I sent you? Oh we've missed you," and hugged him again, so tightly that air was becoming an issue.

"Mum! Leave him alone! You're gonna kill him…" a familiar voice yelled.

"RON!" Harry exclaimed. Ron made his way through the crowded entryway and the reunited friends laughed happily as they hugged, totally uncaring of any perceived lack of manliness. "How the hell are you, mate?" Harry asked.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Uncle Vernon screamed, veins popping out of his neck and his face a splotchy mess of reddish purple that even Harry had never seen before.

"Vernon, shut up. You pathetic excuse for a man." Another voice growled. Uncle Vernon swallowed and paled slightly at the sight of Mad-Eye Moody, but still opened his mouth to reply when Remus stepped in with an envelope. It looked like a perfectly normal muggle letter; Harry wondered where Remus had gotten it.

"Mr. Dursley, we found this on your doorstep. It seems it did not make it into the slot with your other post today." He handed it to Uncle Vernon who took it suspiciously and handed it to Aunt Petunia who put it into the pocket of her apron. "Well, Harry, do you have everything? Are you ready to go?" Harry nodded.

"Did they treat you ok, Potter?" Moody asked. Harry took a long look at each of his relatives, giving Dudley a cold look that very clearly said "Your fate rests in my hands and you know it." Dudley whimpered and tried to hide himself more behind his mother.

"Yeah, it was fine, sir." Harry said. Moody grunted his somewhat disbelieving acknowledgement and still raked his eyes over the trio of petrified Dursleys who were all staring at his magical eye in horror and disbelief.

"Right, well, it's getting late. We should be leaving," Remus said. Moody and Tonks were the first ones out the door, quickly followed by Mrs. Weasley. Ron helped Harry carry his trunk. Harry looked at his relatives, feeling like he should say something. He didn't know why but he always felt like he should say something every time he left the place. "Well, see you." He said with a shrug, and led Ron outside. The Dursleys just watched him leave in disgust.

"It was lovely to see you again, Petunia." Remus said as he closed the door behind them.

"So, how are we going this time?" Harry asked, eager to get away from the house to have anything magical happen after so long of living without it.

"Portkey, dear. Your broom is still at Hogwarts and there is less of a chance of being seen this way. We'll be going straight to 12," Mrs. Weasley responded.

"Yes, we'll be using this umbrella," Remus said as his pulled a full size umbrella out of his pocket. "Tonks, the shield, if you don't mind."

Tonks pulled out her wand and waved it in a large circle all around the group, a trail of white smoke following it. When she connected to two ends of the circle, the smoke went up over their heads to make a solid dome of smoke. "All done," she said cheerily.

"Uh, isn't this kind of obvious?" Harry asked, gesturing to the large hemisphere of smoke that just appeared on his Uncle's drive.

"Nope, only looks like this on the inside, Harry. Outside looks totally normal. Muggles think we just walked away," Tonks explained.

"Right, let's go. Hands on everyone." Remus held out the umbrella and everyone put a hand on it. "Portus," he said. Harry felt the familiar hook behind his bellybutton and closed his eyes for the journey.

When his feet hit ground, and Harry opened his eyes he was in the front hall of number 12 Grimmauld Place. At least he thought he was. It was completely different. It was bright and cheery with warm maple paneling on the walls and a thick rug that looked like it had come straight from the Gryffindor common room. All the snake decorations were gone as well as all the remnants of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. "HALF-BREEDS! FILTH! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Well, almost all.

Remus went and pulled the drapes closed. "No matter what we do, we just can't get rid of her," he said, shaking his head.

"I think the place looks great," Harry said, "I never thought you guys would redecorate."

"Well, we had to have something to do this summer," Mrs. Weasley said, "we're not finished yet, but it's looking so much nicer."

"Yeah, mum's had us working like house elves since we got here…and me and Ginny can't use magic…it hasn't been fun," Ron said, ignoring the look he got from his mother.

"Come on Harry, let's get you to your room," Lupin said.

"My room?" Harry asked, confused, "I have my own room?" They led him upstairs where he instinctively went to the room he had shared with Ron the previous summer.

"This is my room now, Harry," Ron said, "yours is down the hall."

"But that's Sirius' room," he choked on the sentence.

"It is. Er, it was," Lupin looked sad for a moment but brightly smiled at Harry. "But now it's yours. Sirius would have wanted it that way. We haven't changed anything but the sheets. It's entirely as he decorated it." With that, Lupin opened the door, Harry swallowed the gerbil that had somehow found its way into his throat, and stepped across the threshold.

Immediately he felt as if he has finally found home. He looked around and felt his eyes prickle with memories of Sirius. The carpet was deep maroon, the bed the same mahogany four-poster found in the Gryffindor dorms. Its drapes were open and there was a comfortable worn in looking bedspread of navy, bottle green, and maroon spread across it. There were matching mahogany tables on both sides, as well as a cushioned bench at the foot of the bed, and across the room was a sitting area with more matching furniture. There were two over-stuffed armchairs facing each other with a sofa in the middle facing the simple yet elegant fireplace and a coffee table set in between with a large book on it. There was a desk under the window and in the corner by the walk in closet was a place for Hedwig's cage.

"It's nice," Harry said, holding back tears.

"We'll leave you alone for a little while, Harry. Ron will come and get you a little bit later and we'll have a snack if you're hungry, dear." Mrs. Weasley said. Harry nodded without taking his eyes off the room in front of him and heard the door click quietly behind him.

He walked around the room, gently touching the furniture thinking that Sirius had been the last person to sit in these chairs. The ache came back, full force. He walked over to the fireplace staring at where the flames should be, wondering how many times Sirius had stood in that very spot staring into the flames thinking. He closed his eyes and let his tears fall. He could almost feel Sirius standing behind him, staring into the non-existent flames with him. The ache was crushing him. He was suffocating in the pain. He leaned into the mantle; ready for a good cry, but his arms hit something and he looked up. What he saw tore a gut-wrenching sob from deep in his chest. It was a snapshot of a young and handsome Sirius holding a six month old Harry with James and Lily on either side of him, all three smiling lovingly at the baby. They laughed and tickled him as the infant Harry smiled and kicked in pleasure.

Harry had never seen this picture before and couldn't tear his eyes away. He felt an over-whelming sense of loss; it was like getting punched in the stomach by Hagrid. He stared and stared at the picture until his vision went blurry with tears. He missed them. Oh, God, how he missed them. He missed the parents he never got to have. He missed Sirius, the closest thing to father he had ever known, who was taken from him so violently so soon after he had found him. He grieved for the life he could have had, how different it would have been. He couldn't take the unfairness of it all. His parents were so young; he traced their faces gently with his fingers, so beautiful. They had so much life left to live. They died because of him, because of what he was. Sirius died because of him. He gripped the remnants of Ginny's letter that was in his pocket.

"No one else will die because of me," he said to the picture. "I'll get him, he'll pay for what he did to you; for what he's done to the Wizarding world. I'll kill him if it's the last thing I do." He swallowed, still coming to terms with the fact that it _could_ very well be the last thing he did.

He looked around at the rest of the pictures in the room; there were quite a few of them. There was the one from his parent's wedding that he had in his photo album. There were a couple of Remus and Sirius from recent years. There were many of the Marauders from their Hogwarts days, many of James and Lily and even more of the young Harry. He opened the book on the table to find a scrapbook of all the newspaper and magazine clippings that had ever appeared about Harry, he closed it, not wanting to look at all that. On the wall by the window was a framed copy of _The Quibbler _that boasted Harry's exclusive interview from his fifth year.

He went and sat on the bed and looked at the bedside table, there was one more picture there. It was of Harry, Ron, and Hermione laughing together in frame that looked worn from handling. Harry got choked up again. He noticed a piece of paper sticking out of the drawer. Interested, he opened the drawer to see what it was. He found all of his own letters to Sirius, right down to the notes scribbled on scraps of paper; a couple from Ron and Hermione, many from Lupin and Dumbledore and some from the other members of the Order.

Harry sat on the bed totally dumbstruck. "I had no idea he was so…sentimental," he said out loud.

"Surprising isn't it?" A voice said. And for the second time in as many days, Harry was startled right off the bed.

"Oh! Harry! Are you ok?" Harry stuck his head up over the edge of the bed and saw Remus standing at the door looking concerned, but trying to hide a smile.

"Yes, I'm alright. You just scared me."

"Sorry about that, I thought you knew I was here."

"No, I hadn't seen you. How long have you been standing there?"

"Not long. I thought you might want some company. Someone who could perhaps answer some questions if you had any," Lupin said gently.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess I would like some company." Harry said. After a pause he added, "Where did Sirius get this picture from? I don't remember it ever being taken." He picked up the worn frame from the bedside table.

"That, I believe Professor Dumbledore gave him," Remus said as he joined Harry on the bed. "Albus, took an interest in young Colin Creevy's pictures a couple years back. He's allowed Colin to develop some Wizarding pictures from time to time, assisted him in making the potion. This was one of the ones Colin gave to him. Albus was nice enough to give it to Sirius; after all, he got to see you three all the time. Sirius missed you…and Ron and Hermione, desperately. He was very much attached to that picture actually."

Harry ran his hand over the picture. He had a feeling he'd be very much attached to it as well. They looked so happy. Like they didn't have a care in the world. Like normal teenagers who were just enjoying hanging out with friends. Ron was throwing his head back, laughing heartily, and slapping his knee. Hermione had covered her mouth with her hand, she was doing the silent laughter thing when something is so funny you can't breathe enough to make noise. Harry, in the picture, was holding his stomach and there were tears at the corners of his eyes. They were outside by the lake on the Hogwarts grounds. He didn't know when Colin had taken the picture but he was very glad he did. He made a mental note to talk to Colin more this year.

Harry smiled at the picture, "You know Remus, I don't even remember when this was taken, let alone what we were laughing at."

"I'm not sure you'd want to, Harry. I wouldn't want it to cheapen the moment preserved here." Harry looked at Remus with the small, wistful smile of someone who was remembering better days. That sort of smile shouldn't have been coming from someone who wasn't quite 16.

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words," Harry said as he looked back at the picture.

Remus nodded, "I'd say this one shows the essence of friendship…you can't put that into words."

* * *

The next morning, Harry woke early to the sounds of feet running up and down the hall past his door. He closed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. He and Remus were up well into the night talking and for once he was actually sleeping soundly. He suspected Remus had put some sleeping charm on him, but he didn't mind. He was grateful for the rest. Realizing he wasn't going to get any more sleep he hauled himself out of bed and opened the door to a stream of red streaking by his room. 

"George! Give it back!" Ginny screamed as she chased George down the hall.

"Give what back, sister dear? I have nothing," George said as he turned at the top of the stairs and tossed a book to Fred who was at the other end of the hallway.

Ginny let out a shriek of rage and jumped as high as she could to try to stop the book's flight from twin to twin. He fingers just missed the spine of the book and it sailed into Fred's waiting hand. Fred opened it up to a random page and began to read.

"Dear Diary, Today Michael and I took a walk around the lake, it was so romantic…"

"FRED! STOP!" Ginny screeched as she threw herself down the hall and tackled Fred, who had just enough time to send the diary back to George before being pummeled in the stomach by his sister's shoulder. But Fred had thrown the book too high and it hit ceiling before landing on the floor about ten feet short of its destination. Harry chuckled at the typical Weasley shenanigans and bent down to pick up Ginny's diary.

"Here you go, Gin," he said. Ginny stopped her assault on Fred's lower abdomen and looked his way.

"Oh! Thank you, Harry! I didn't see you standing there. Did we wake you? I'm sorry." She pushed herself up off her brother, with probably a little more strength than she actually needed, earning another "Oomph" from Fred at the increased pressure in his stomach, and came over to take the book from him.

"Aw, come on, Harry," George said, "you killed the game." Ginny whipped her head around.

"He, unlike SOME people, has respect for others' privacy," Ginny said scathingly. She thanked Harry again and walked down the stairs, kicking George in the shin in the process.

"Ow! Ginny, that hurt!" She ignored him and bounced cheerily down the stairs. Harry went and helped Fred off the floor where he had managed to sit up and was now holding his stomach.

"You alright, mate? Looks like she was going at you pretty good."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," Fred said after standing, "she hits like a girl."

"I HEARD THAT FREDRICK WEASLEY! I have 6 older brothers and you guys taught me well, don't you think for one second that I can't take you!" Ginny bellowed up the stairs. Fred paled.

"Besides, I only need one kidney, right?" He winced as he took a deep breathe. Harry gave him a half smile.

"What was that all about anyway? Don't you guys have anything better to do than pick on your little sister? Blowing up something? Stealing toilet seats perhaps?" Harry asked jokingly.

"Harry, Harry, Harry," George joined them and put his arm around Harry's shoulders, "there is nothing more fun than torturing one's younger siblings. It never gets old, and never gets boring. There's a certain satisfaction in seeing a new shade of red on the face of your loved ones…and a certain pride in knowing that _you _put it there."

Fred wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Amen, brother, amen." Harry laughed.

After showering and getting dressed, Harry went downstairs and joined the Weasleys for breakfast. Mrs. Weasley had gone all out for Harry's first meal and made every breakfast food Harry had ever mentioned he liked. Ever.

"Wow Mrs. Weasley, this looks great." Harry said as she put a plate down in front of him.

"Goodness Molly, are we expecting the whole Auror corps for breakfast?" Remus asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"I just didn't know what Harry would want for breakfast, he's always so skinny after we get him back from those muggle relatives of his," Mrs. Weasley said.

"You're talking about him like he's not sitting right here, mum," Ron said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. Mrs. Weasley gave him an exasperated look.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I just didn't know what you would want for breakfast you're always so skinny after we get you back from those muggle relatives of yours. Is that better, Ron?" Ron stuck his tongue out at her when she turned her back, Harry, Ginny, and Remus chuckled as they continued to eat.

"Where did Fred and George go?" Harry asked.

"They had some stuff to do at the shop in Diagon Alley. Apparated out a little while ago," Ron replied. "So what do you want to do today, Harry? Hermione won't be here until next week, so we can do whatever we want without being hounded about our homework."

"Actually, I'm pretty much finished with mine. I've been doing it a little at a time all summer." Ron looked thunderstruck. "What? Like I had anything better to do at the Dursley's for six weeks."

"Actually," Remus interrupted, "We have some business at Gringott's today, Harry. I was going to tell you last night, but it didn't seem to be the right time."

"Oh, well that's fine. I need to get some pocket money and stuff for school anyway." Harry's stomach suddenly dropped when it clicked why they would have to go to Gringott's. He looked at Remus and hoped with all his might that he was wrong; he didn't want to have to face it yet. "Remus, er, what do we have to do? Why are we going to Gringott's?"

Remus looked at him with sad eyes. "Well…er…the hearing of Sirius' will."

* * *

They flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and walked silently to Gringott's. The huge building never seemed to get any closer, which was alright with Harry; he wasn't looking forward to getting there. 

"Hey Remus," Harry asked, something suddenly occurring to him, "Don't the Goblins still think Sirius is a murderer? Do they do Wills and stuff like that for convicts? How did they even know he died? Will the Ministry try to take all of Sirius' things? Even if they don't, won't the Goblins tell the Ministry who got what in the Will? That means they'd know all about us and the Order! Remus this could be really bad! I don't think we should go through with this!" Harry stopped at the bottom of the marble steps and looked at his friend, pleading with him to not make him go inside.

Remus looked at him and suddenly burst out laughing. "How many questions did you just ask me, Harry?" Harry scowled at him. Remus sobered, "Let me try to answer them. First, yes, the Goblins do think Sirius is…was…a murderer. But that doesn't matter to them, they don't judge. Now granted Sirius couldn't walk in here and make a withdrawal, but he did correspond by owl in order to access his accounts. The Goblins are under a very strict privacy oath about their customers so no matter how badly Fudge wanted them to tell him where Sirius was, or anything about any of their other customers for that matter, the Goblins are strictly forbidden by the bonds of their magic. Second, yes, they do Wills for convicts; as long as you are a customer of the bank you have access to all its services. Third, they knew he had, er, died because when a wizard signs his most recent Will, after it is recorded of course, a spell is put on it that first makes it unreadable to anyone until the day of the wizard's death. The second thing the spell does is bind the Will to a safe in the Head Goblin's office so no one can get to it. When the wizard dies, the Will disappears from the safe and reappears on the desk of the Goblin who commissioned the Will in the first place, and when that Goblin looks at the Will and can read it, they know that the wizard had died. The Goblin reads the Will, and invites only the people that the now dead wizard specified to a hearing of the Will and then the assets get handed out. Next question, what number are we on now? Ah yes, fourth. No the Ministry cannot try to take anything belonging to Sirius, it is highly illegal. Fifth, the Goblins won't tell the Ministry anything, it is part of their privacy oath. Which means, they are not going to find out about us, this is not bad, and we are going to go through with it. Did I answer all your questions?" Remus smiled at him.

"I still don't want to go in there," Harry said stubbornly, crossing his arms like a three year old protesting his parents.

"I don't really want to either, Harry, but we have to. We have to hear the Will within a year of the death or the contract becomes null and void…which means that Sirius' remaining family can make a claim to his estate. Which we _really _don't want."

"I thought Sirius was the last Black? He had no family."

"Ah, Harry, I see you haven't taken a good look at the Black family tapestry lately," Remus replied. "There are three remaining members of the Black family. They are all women, and therefore do not have the Black surname. Our friend, Tonks, is one. But her mother was disinherited, which means that Tonks has no real claim. The other two…well the other two…they go by the names Narcissa and Bellatrix, married names being Malfoy and Lestrange, respectively."

Harry jumped up from the seat he had taken on a bench near the stairs, "WHAT?"

"You see now why we must make sure Sirius' cousins never get a chance to make a claim on his estate?"

"Let's go, Remus. I'm ready now." Remus nodded and gestured for Harry to go up the stairs, following him once he himself got up the nerve.

Once they got into the lobby a goblin ran up to them, "We've been waiting for you. Welcome back Mr. Potter, nice to see you again. Mr. Lupin," he nodded to Remus, "The hearing will take place in a few moments, if you will just follow me." Harry and Remus followed him through a door to the left of the entrance way.

"Is this the goblin who will be reading us the Will?" Harry whispered, it was silent in the hallway except for their footsteps and Harry felt awkward speaking loudly. Remus looked at him sharply, a realization dawning on his face.

"Griphook," the goblin turned, "would you give me a minute to talk to Harry? I seem to have forgotten something."

Griphook nodded, "When you're ready this is the office we'll be in today. I'll wait for you inside." He went into a door just down the hall and Remus turned to Harry.

"I haven't fully explained the process of this to you. I forgot the most important part." Remus said. Harry looked confused. "See Harry, this isn't a 'reading' it's a 'hearing'."

"What's the difference?" Harry asked.

"Well, the difference is, no one reads the Will to us. Sirius tells us."

Harry blinked. "Um, sorry, what?"

"I always forget that there is still so much you don't know about our world, Harry. See the spell I was telling you about earlier that binds the Will to the person writing it does one more thing. It lets the spirit of the dead give the reading of the Will. Do you understand what I'm saying, Harry?"

Harry swallowed, "That Sirius will be reading us his Will. It will be in his voice."

"Not only his voice, Harry. It will be Sirius' voice, expressions, laughter, everything. The way the Will was recorded was that Sirius started talking and what he said was recorded in the necessary legal ways. But what we hear, Harry, will be exactly what Sirius said the way he said it before he died. Much like a Muggle video tape recording, only more real."

Harry paled. "So, I'll get to hear Sirius' voice again?"

"Yes Harry. This is Sirius' chance to say goodbye to us the way he wanted to. He knew that when he recorded his Will. Are you ready to go in?"

Harry looked at Remus, his own fear and anxiety reflected in his eyes. "I'm scared Remus, I want to hear it, but I don't want to. I don't want it to be the last time."

"I know, Harry. I know." Remus put his hands on Harry's shoulders, "Look at me, Harry." Harry looked up. "I'm scared too, Sirius was my best friend. But it is _not _the last time you will talk to him or hear his voice. Sirius is always with us, the same way your parents are. We always have our memories, those will never leave us. As long as we remember the ones we love, it will _never _be the last time." Harry nodded at his former teacher, who never seemed to stop teaching. "Are you ready, Harry?"

"Are you, Remus?"

Remus looked surprised for a second, then he chuckled, "You know Harry, I don't think I am. I don't think either of us is. But we are going in there."

"Yeah, yeah we are," Harry smiled and they walked into the office together.

* * *

Griphook was behind the desk waiting patiently for them to make themselves comfortable in the leather armchairs in front of the huge mahogany desk. The room was actually very welcoming and inviting, if not a little formal. 

"Sorry about the wait, Griphook. We needed to gather ourselves," Remus said.

"No problem, Mr. Lupin. No problem at all. Normally there are hysterical widows or greedy children fighting over money, no a few minutes wait is not a problem." He smiled at them in what he thought must have been a friendly way, but in reality looked rather gruesome. "Are you ready?"

Harry and Remus looked at each other, sharing a private understanding that they were indeed _not_ ready but Remus nodded and Griphook started to explain the process.

"If you'll direct your attention to the chair over in the corner," he gestured to an identical chair to one Harry was sitting in that was positioned facing the room from the corner, "that is where the image of Mr. Black will appear. The image will give its message and then I will ask you to sign the form stating you have heard and accepted all that Mr. Black has said. Then all necessary arrangements will be made for transfers of funds and property. Are there any questions?" Both Harry and Remus shook their heads. "Ok, then let us begin." Griphook tapped the desk in front of him, and the lights dimmed and Sirius appeared in the chair. It was so lifelike and…well, _solid_ that Harry gasped and made to reach out and touch him. "Now, I know the illusion is good, Mr. Potter, but it is not real. You cannot touch him. Your hand will go through his body. It is only a projection." Griphook said gently. Remus gripped Harry's shoulder in a comforting way. Then Sirius started to speak.

"Ok, testing, testing, Snape is a git, testing. Ok, it works. Well, Remus, Harry, if I'm telling you this, I must have met my untimely and unfortunate end. Or I finally got sick of it all and fed myself to Hagrid's 3-headed dog." Sirius laughed, "No really, I wouldn't do that, if I was going to end it somehow I would definitely take a nose dive off of the Astronomy Tower…I have so many…er, _happy_, memories there." Sirius gave a mischievous grin. Harry smiled; leave it to Sirius to make jokes even in his Will. Remus chuckled and whispered "oh, Padfoot." Sirius continued.

"Now, down to business. It turns out, I have quite a bit of money left from that old hag who gave birth to me. I also have quite a lot of stuff. Stuff no one in their right mind would ever want. Except maybe Malfoy or Snape. But in any event, that stuff is getting chucked or given to the proper authorities at the Ministry. Everything else I want the two of you to have. I'll divide it up later, but really you guys have to share," another goofy grin. Harry smiled again, the ache had come back worse than ever before, but he had to smile at Sirius.

"Remus, I want you to have half of all my money. Now don't argue! It's set in stone. Half my vault comes to about 750 thousand galleons, or at least does at the moment that I'm recording this." Remus' mouth dropped and he gasped. Sirius laughed, "I can only imagine what your face looks like. I know you're going to say you don't deserve it, and probably give it all away to some wishy washy charity, but I want you to have it. Moony, old friend, you are now, well, then…er, now…er…oh, you know what I mean! You are the only one left of the Marauders. You and James were my entire life until he died. After Azkaban you trusted me, believed in me, and made me remember what it was like to laugh. You are my best and dearest friend, Moony; allow me to ease the hardship of life that I have watched you deal with since we were eleven. I can't be there for you anymore; I can no longer run with the wolves." Sirius looked like he was about to cry, "Remus, please, take the money. Let me die knowing that you are well taken care of." Remus had tears running down his face. He was nodding, staring at Sirius.

"Remember how much fun we had in school? All our adventures? God, I miss those days. Running wild through the forest, sleeping through class, out smarting Filch, discovering every nook and cranny in that castle." Sirius looked sadly reflective for a moment, "You know, I never told James and Lily, and I won't let it go with you," he was crying now himself, "I love you, Moony. You are the closest thing I ever had to a brother, a soul mate. Never, ever, forget how much you mean to me." Sirius was quiet for a moment and then drew himself up and cleared his throat, "Enough of that, eh? I don't know how I left you, but I hope it was daring and noble and a hell of a good time. And if not, I hope I at least took Snape down with me. And Moony, no matter where I am, I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." Sirius winked. Remus let out a shout of laughter through his tears and said "I know, Padfoot, I know you are."

"Now, Harry," Sirius continued, "you, in case you have not yet guessed, get the other half of my vault. That's 750 thousand galleons to you as well. I know you are wealthy in your own right, but I'm sure you'll find something to do with it. My one request is that you help Fred and George Weasley out with their joke shop…those two remind me of myself way back when. Not to mention that those inventions of theirs will come in handy when you get in those sticky situations you three always manage to end up in. Good kids." Sirius winked at Harry. "Harry, you also will be the sole owner of my house: 12 Grimmauld Place, with the condition that you let Moony live there – Moony, don't argue – for as long as he wants to. I know you have never really had a place you could call home, Harry, and I know 12 might bring back some bad memories for you – God knows it did for me – but it is all I can offer you. Oh, Harry, I dreamed of the day when you could come home to 12 and the two of us would go out and have great adventures…I suppose it will never happen now, but at least I can give you a home to come home to – even if…even if I'm not in it." Sirius teared up again, and Harry's own face was wet with tears he hadn't noticed shedding.

"Harry, I know you are not your father. But you are so like him it gives me chills. You have his bravery, his love, his kindness, his talent. James was like a brother to me, and you, Harry, you are like the son I was never allowed to have. I only wish I could have been there to watch you grow up, to help you along the way. It should have been me to take you to buy your first wand, to tell you about your parents, to teach you about girls, to be at your wedding," Sirius, and Remus too, Harry noticed, were now full blown crying. Sirius took a deep shaky breath, "I'm so sorry, Harry, I should have been there for you. I should have…I'm so…oh Harry, I'm so sorry." Sirius put his head in his hands and sobbed. Harry looked at the floor, watching his tears make water spots on the carpet. He only looked up when Sirius began talking again.

"Lily and James should have been there. I should have been there. I can forgive Peter for what he did to us, to the world…but never for what he did to you, Harry. I will _never_ forgive him for taking everyone who loved you away from you. Oh, I wish they could see the man you're becoming, Harry. They would be so proud of you. I'm so proud of you…so, so proud of you. No matter what happens in the end, Harry, you are a hero. You have met every challenge ever presented to you and lived to tell the tale. You are everything your parents ever dreamed you would be." Sirius paused and gathered himself.

"I never got to be the Godfather I wanted to be, Harry. I hope you know that I did my best with what I had. Like I said, you – along with Remus – have been the family I never had. And I want to give you some fatherly advice before I go." He cleared his throat and sat up straighter, "Now, Harry, drinking is bad. No sex before marriage. Eat your vegetables. Listen to Mrs. Weasley and Professor Dumbledore. Follow the rules and do your homework." Sirius burst out laughing, "and if you think for one second I'm serious about any of that you don't know me very well. Do the opposite of everything I just said." Sirius sobered.

"Now for real. Never let some stupid argument ruin a good friendship. Take care of Ron and Hermione, because your friends are all you have. Never try to push them away, embrace them and let them help you. Ron and Hermione are the difference between success and failure – they have been in the past and they will be in the future. The three of you are a team, all of you with skills that rolled together will make a force that no one will be able to beat. Always be there for each other, love each other, and take care of each other.

"Trust your instincts, because they are usually right. If you love someone, tell them so, even if it's hard to get out. And above all, Harry, never forget the ones you love. All you have in this world is yourself and the people you care for…even when they are taken from you, as long as you remember them, they will always live on in your memory. We never really leave you, Harry, we're there inside of you just waiting for the day when you need us. I love you, Harry. Never, never forget that." Sirius was quiet for a long minute. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts.

"I'm not scared, Harry. Of dying. Someone once said that death is the last great adventure. You know me, I can never stay out of an adventure. Don't mourn me, either of you. There are not words to express how much I will miss you two…but I'm not afraid. Other than leaving you, I have no regrets, nothing to keep me here. Don't mourn me," he laughed quietly, almost talking to himself, "I know that's like talking to a brick wall," he looked up at Harry and Remus, "I'm going to see them. I'll be with Lily and James again. Harry, I'll tell them all about you. They'll be so proud of you, so happy that you turned out right. Remus, I'll tell them that you're taking care of him. That you'll be there for him when the rest of us can't. Hell, be jealous of us! We'll be together! Laughing, remembering, and living in endless summer holiday. We'll look in on you guys from time to time, always at the least opportune and most embarrassing moments." Remus snorted, Harry half smiled, and Sirius smiled broadly, like a kid waiting for Christmas.

"I don't really have anything else to say, but I don't want to end the recording just yet. There's so much I haven't said, that I don't know how to say. But somehow, I know that you know what I'm thinking and I don't have to say it. I love you both, you are my family. I will miss you…but I will be there waiting for you. James, Lily, and I will be there waiting for you on the other side. Welcoming you with open arms and smiles. Until then, lads, take care of each other and find the fun in everything."

And then he was gone. Again.


End file.
